Shisui's Sacrifice
by Umei no Mai
Summary: After the Uchiha massacre, Itachi was a broken man; what is not widely known is that it was his cousin Shisui who broke him. A short history of the friendship that led to the fall of Konoha's most ambitious clan. APitG compatible. Oneshot.


This could be considered backstory to Another Player in the Game, but also stands alsone quite nicely. A take on what might have happened between Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.

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**Age 5**

The first time Uchiha Shisui saw his baby cousin, Itachi was one week old. Aunt Mikoto had just come home from the hospital with him and was proudly showing off the new clan heir to all and sundry.

"This is your new cousin Itachi, Shisui-chan," his mother told him. "He's going to be your clan head one day, so make sure you look after him."

"Hai, kaa-san," Shisui said obediently, standing on tiptoes so he could peek over the edge of the cradle.

Wide, solemn eyes under pitch-black bangs stared back up at the five-year old.

"Wow," Shisui whispered, awed.

"Ah, Shisui-chan," Mikoto-ba-chan said, voice low and sweet. "This is little Itachi-chan. Would you like to hold him?"

"May I?" Shisui breathed hopefully.

By the time he was taken home again by his mother that afternoon Shisui had sworn a private oath that he would do everything and anything in his power to care for his wonderful baby cousin.

**Age 10**

"Hey, Itachi-chan! Look, I graduated!" Shisui whooped, pointing to the hitai-ite on his forehead proudly. Itachi blinked, kunai hanging loosely from his hand.

"Well done, nii-san," the five-year-old offered, eyes drifting back to his target.

"Oh, practising again?" Shisui commented carelessly. "How's it- wow. Three bullseyes? You really are a genius, Itachi-chan."

Itachi smiled shyly. "Arigatou, Shisui-nii. Tou-san says I can start at the Academy this year."

"Well then congratulations to you too, squirt," Shisui said, mouth twisting up at the side as he remembered his uncle Fugaku's boasting about his prodigy of a son. _I train with the chibi all the time, I taught him to read when he was two and babysat him all through the Academy while still managing to get top marks on my homework and Fugaku-sama gets all the credit for fathering a 'genius'. Bah. He never spends any time with Itachi anyway; he's too busy running the clan._

"How's little Sasuke-chan?"

Itachi's face screwed up in distaste. "He screams all the time and his hair sticks up."

Shisui fell over laughing. The younger boy stared at him curiously, puzzled by the outburst.

"Hehehe, you weren't much different at that age, 'Tachi-chan," Shisui chuckled. "Now show me how much you've improved with shuriken since last time, little cousin."

**Age 13**

Shisui was grumpy. He had finally been promoted to chunnin and had been hoping for some kind of recognition from his family and clan, but on arriving back at the compound in his new vest he found everyone gossiping busily about Itachi. Apparently the genius-chibi had activated his sharingan. At _eight_.

So the teen had shunshined off to find someplace out of the way to sulk in peace. Unfortunately Itachi was familiar with all of his hiding places.

"Nii-san?" the eight-year-old ventured, eyeing his cousin's hunched form perched on a branch halfway up a tree on the edge of the clan training grounds.

"Hn."

The morning sunlight reflected off the younger boy's hitai-ite. "Gomen nasai, nii-san. What did I do?"

Shisui softened. It wasn't the chibi's fault Fugaku was an insensitive arrogant ass. "You did nothing, Tachi-chan. I'm just grumpy today."

"You made chunnin," the young genin noticed solemnly. "Tou-san didn't notice, did he?"

"Iie. He was too busy harping on about your sharingan."

"Gomen Shisui-nii."

"Hey, it isn't your fault Fugaku-sama's an ass."

Itachi stared into space. "I could have shown tou-san tomorrow rather than today."

Shisui found he had nothing he could say to that.

**Age 15**

Shisui ran back to the clan compound from the missions office as if chased by the hounds of hell, knocking loudly on the kitchen door of the clan mansion on arriving.

"Mikoto-ba-chan! Where's Itachi? Is he home?"

"Hai, Shisui-kun. He should be practising fire techniques down by the pond."

Shisui dashed down the path to the pond, brown eyes shining with glee. "Itachi!"

The younger chunnin finished blowing a massive fireball and turned around to greet his cousin. "What is it, Shisui-nii?"

"Look!" Shisui pointed to his eyes, which had gone from dark brown to blood red with one tomoe circling the pupil in his left eye and two in his right.

Itachi's face lit up as he smiled ever so slightly. "Wow, nii-san, you did it!"

"Yep! I got sharingan! I'm so cool! The jounin in charge of my last mission says I'm nearly jounin level now so he's going to recommend me as soon as I've mastered it. He says I'm better with shunshin than anyone he's ever seen!"

Itachi put his head on one side. "Do you want my help?" he asked softly.

"Please, Itachi-kun. You're better with sharingan than half the clan's jounin. With your help I'll get promoted in no time!"

**Age 17**

The day Itachi joined ANBU Shisui found a quiet little bar far away from the Uchiha district and got completely plastered. _Sure, I'm a jounin and an ANBU, but I'm seventeen! Shunshin no Shisui, Shisui of the body-flicker, most accomplished teleporter since the Yondaime and with a powerful and rare sharingan! Itachi-chan's only twelve years old! The pressure will break him; it's already bad enough with him being clan heir and absolutely brilliant at everything. _

_I need more alcohol._

The next morning he woke up in bed next to a former crush who also happened to be married to the son of one of the clan elders. Terrified of the possible repercussions, Shisui woke her up, hypnotised her into forgetting him completely and body-flickered back to his flat to get some medication for his hangover.

Nine months later when Uchiha Yashiro announced to the clan that his son had finally provided him with a granddaughter to carry on the family line Shisui had to make use of all his training not to give anything away. He did make a point of visiting the new mother and baby girl, though. The newborn had his hair.

**Age 18**

Shisui sat on the riverbank, staring at the water as he thought about why Itachi would want to meet with him in such an out of the way place.

"This is about the elder's plan, isn't it."

From the corner of his eye he saw Itachi dip his chin ever so slightly, face completely blank and eyes empty. Shisui silently mourned the loss of the bright, inquisitive toddler he'd taught to read and the gentle, quiet Academy student he'd trained in taijutsu.

"They are guilty of treason," the young ANBU captain said flatly, "and I am loyal to my village."

Shisui closed his eyes. "You told the hokage everything, didn't you?"

Silence.

"What's the plan, then? I know you have one."

More silence, this time more oppressive.

"Itachi." There was command in that tone, borne of over a decade of trust and authority.

"... I need mangekyou."

Shisui's eyes shot open and he jerked around to stare at his baby cousin. "Itachi? Are you _mad_? You know why it was banned!"

"Madara is still alive, Shisui," the younger boy rasped tiredly, shoulders sagging as if under a heavy load. "He wants to destroy Konoha for not making him hokage and the clan for kicking him out. With mangekyou he'll respect me more, maybe enough to get him to leave without a massacre. I have to protect the village, but the clan being as it is makes protecting the Uchiha more problematic."

"Hokage-sama wants the traitor's dead, doesn't he. That's the law."

"Aa."

"Itachi, what about your brother?" Shisui wanted to ask, _what about my daughter Himiko?_ But didn't dare say it. No-one knew the adorable four-month-old with the brown curls was his daughter and he intended to keep it that way.

Itachi's face set into a mask. "Sasuke will not die. I won't let it happen."

Shisui turned to stare at the river again. "You need to kill me, don't you? I'm the only person other than Sasuke that you care enough about."

The sound of running water was oddly loud in the quiet of the early evening.

"Itachi."

"I don't want to, nii-san," Itachi whispered, using the childish form of address for the first time in two years, "I really don't."

Shisui smiled over at his baby cousin, his only real friend and the only living member of the entire clan that he considered family other than his daughter. "Did you know, Itachi-chan, that when you were born I promised us both that I would take care of you. Anything and everything, Itachi-chan."

"Shisui-nii?" Itachi whispered, eyes wide and wild.

"Shisui of the body-flicker, one of the most dangerous jounin of his age, drew a kunai and called up his sharingan. "Kill me."

"Nii-san-"

Shisui attacked. "Kill me, Itachi!

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><p>The body of Shunshin no Shisui, jounin of Konohagakure, was found washed up on the bank of the village river. The corpse was badly damaged, which was attributed to the many rapids in the section just upstream of where it was found. Cause of death was determined to be drowning, and with the discovery of the goodbye letter found in his home the case was pronounced to be suicide.<p>

Uchiha Itachi was never quite the same afterwards.

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><p>.<p>

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A/N: My take on Itachi's relationship with his older cousin. This also explains -to my mind- why Itachi was so dead-set on Sasuke killing him in the post-time-skip canon; after all, that's what you do for little brothers you love, isn't it?


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